


“Zorro?”

by a_v_i_s



Category: Zorro (TV 1990)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-05-16 08:52:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19314799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_v_i_s/pseuds/a_v_i_s
Summary: A silly one-shot displaying my dumb original character, Nina. It’s kind of dumb, but hey, I had a lot of fun writing it :))





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Important: Nina is not a self-insert character!! Have a nice day ❤️  
> Also Felipe is acting a tiny little bit OOC (out of character) because he’s annoyed but y’know

Nina, a servant girl employed by the de la Vegas, was peacefully sweeping behind the partition close to the library room. She almost let her broom slip when Felipe, the de la Vegas’ servant and kinda sorta son, stumbled into the library. He was supposed to be out in town with don Alejandro and don Diego. She kept her mouth shut and shrunk behind the partition, waiting to see why exactly he had come into the library in such a hurry. Maybe he was trying to locate a book he wanted to read but wasn’t exactly allowed to? Maybe look for something he lost? Or maybe, possibly, it was simply Felipe being Felipe. Nina looked on in slight anxiety as he looked behind himself, barely missing her, and then to the left. _Good_. _There’s_ _no_ _one_ _there_ , his body language seemed to convey. 

 

And, ever so carefully, he reached his hand around underneath the mantle of the fireplace. A little door slid open. 

 

She watched Felipe as he took one look behind himself, then slunk into the passageway. A few moments later, the passage shut itself, and Nina came out of hiding.

 

“Hmm...” She said to no one but herself. She crept closer to the fireplace, every creak of the hacienda’s old wood floor alarming her just a little. Exhaling deeply, she found herself standing before it. With a cautious touch of her hand, she found the trigger under the mantle that opened the small door. Pressing it, the door slid open for her. With shaky hands, she pulled herself into the little entryway. Nina’s bare feet slapped against the cold stone stairs, and when she reached a landing, she uprighted a lopsided candle (which she found to close the door at the top.)

 

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she gasped loudly. There, before her, stood Zorro adjusting his hat in a mirror hanging on a wooden pillar.

 

“Zorro?” She called out in confusion. What could Zorro be doing here? And where, in el nombre de Dios, was Felipe? She had sworn that he had gone down the passage. Unless...

 

“Felipe?”

 

The masked man turned around, obviously very startled, when he had heard someone call out for Zorro and then seconds later, for him. Felipe whipped his entire body around, his far-too-big cape nearly wrapping itself around his ankles, threatening to trip him.

 

“Felipe, is that you?” Nina took a few steps closer. 

 

He stood frozen, trying to process the whole situation. How exactly did she get down into the cave and how exactly could he explain everything to her? It was embarrassing enough to be caught in the act of pretending that he was Zorro, but the fact that someone else would have to know the secret of Zorro. Felipe sighed and took off the hat and mask sullenly. _You_ _have_ _to_ _stay_ _here_ _until_ _don_ _Diego_ _gets_ _home_ , _I_ _can’t_ _even_ _begin_ _to_ explain _what’s going_   _on_. He signed, refusing to make eye contact with Nina. After he took off the cape and hung it up on its peg, he led Nina to a chair, his. _Sit_ , _please_. 

 

“Sit here? Alright.” 

 

Felipe leaned on the desk in front of Nina, who was making half-rotations on the swivel chair. He propped his head between his hands and stared off into space looking rather defeated, that is, until Nina interrupted his staring contest with the ceiling.

 

“You can’t be Zorro, because you can’t talk.” Nina stated matter-of-factly, like she was some genius. (Which, quite obviously, she wasn’t.)

 

Felipe shook his head. _No_ , _I’m not Zorro_. 

 

“Why did you have Zorro’s clothes on? Why is there a cave under the hacienda? Why do I have to wait here?” Nina rapid-fired questions at the mute boy, who could not possibly answer all of them at once by signing. He hastily put a finger to her lips. _Please_ , _be_ _quiet_. 

 

A faint pink tint spread across Nina’s cheeks, and she said nothing more. Felipe returned his hand to his face to prop it up again, doing his very best to ignore the fact that she had begun to make cow eyes at him. It wasn’t like he didn’t think was cute; Lord knows how long he had ‘liked’ her, but now was absolutely _not_ the time for anything like that. Not a word was spoken (or signed) for a good ten minutes. 

 

“Felipe?”

 

_Yes?_

 

“Who is Zorro?”

 

 _You’ll_ _have_ _to_ _wait_ _to_ _find_ _out_. _I_ _can’t_ _really_ _convey_ _it_. That was sort of a lie. 

 

“Oh.”

 

 _You_ _can’t_ _tell_ anyone _when_ _you_ do _find_ _out_. He signed after a pause.

 

“Oh, I promise I won’t tell.”

 

For the first time that day, Felipe smiled at Nina. His signing was very clear to her: 

 

_Thank you._

 


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just a heads up: Nina’s full name, Saturnina, is a real name from Spanish-speaking roots, not something that I made up to sound cool! You can google it if you don’t believe me. Anyway, I love y’all! :) <3

When both de la Vegas returned home from Victoria’s tavern, Diego immediately sensed that something was off.

 

“Deigo, where is Felipe? I thought I had told him to sweep the library while we were out, but he isn’t there.” Don Alejandro asked his son. 

 

Thinking quickly, as Felipe often went down to the laboratory to practice his sword fighting skills, (without permission) he suggested; “Oh, don’t worry father, he’s probably out in the garden helping Saturnina.” That was Nina’s full name and she silently loathed it— she just wished that she had a normal name. Hence she liked to be called Nina. 

 

Don Alejandro nodded. “I’ll go look for them out there.”

 

Immediately after his father left the room, Diego darted down to the secret cave. He definitely wasn’t prepared for what he would hear the moment he put his head through the door.

 

Swordplay and laughter.

 

He sprinted down the stairs, but first stopping just out of sight for a moment to see what was going on. Felipe appeared to be giving Nina a fencing lesson, which she was taking to decently well. Once he had knocked the sword out of her hand, he signed with a huge grin plastered on his face:

 

_ You fence like a girl! _

 

“What do you mean _ ,  _ I fence like a girl? I  _ am _ a girl!” Nina giggled. “At least  _ I’m  _ careful. I’ve got a cut on my hand! You don’t have a single scratch on you.” She was still smiling.

 

Felipe shrugged, his grin morphing into a subtle smirk.  _ Do you want me to kiss it better?  _ He signed sarcastically.

 

Diego cringed.

 

“Why don’t you?” Nina said with a soft giggle. She extended her hand out to him, and just as he raised it up to his lips, Diego bolted down the stairs.

 

“Felipe! What is the meaning of this?”

 

The mute boy seemed to jump six feet in the air. It then clicked for Nina that he wasn’t actually deaf. 

 

Silence.

 

“Did you expose  _ everything  _ to Saturnina just to  _ impress _ her?” Diego’s arms were crossed and a rather menacing look was plastered on his usually calm face. 

 

Felipe, who was incredibly pale, feverishly shook his head  _ no.  _

 

More silence.

 

“I can explain, señor de la Vega.” Nina gulped.

 

“Go on,” the don said, slightly calmer. 

 

“I… I was sweeping behind the partition up there and I saw him go into the door in the fireplace, so I, uh followed him down. A-and when I saw him again, he was wearing Zorro’s clothes and using Zorro’s sword.” Diego noted that the sword Felipe was fencing with was definitely the one Sir Kendall had gifted to him at the academy.

 

Nina continued, “He told me that he wasn’t Zorro when I asked him if he was, and he also told me that you would be able to explain everything to me when you got back. I honestly haven’t clue who Zorro really is, sir, and I won’t tell anyone what I saw down here if you’re both trying to protect his identity, sir.” Nina was twisting her apron by this point, staring at the ground and obviously flustered and uncomfortable. She had a tendency to overreact. She also wasn’t quite bright enough to put the two and two together that Zorro and the younger don were one in the same, but what she lacked in smarts she made up for in her personality. (For the most part, because she could be a real  _ dolor en el culo _ sometimes.)

 

Diego pulled Felipe aside to Tornado’s stall, where Nina couldn’t hear them, and asked; “Felipe, do you think Zorro could use another, er, helper? To help you keep the cave clean, maybe tend to Tornado...” The don knew that Nina was very unlikely to tell anyone else. She was a curious girl, not too bright, but curious; so he knew deep down inside him that the chances were high for her to find out at some point. She could be of use too, Felipe was starting to develop bags under his eyes from late nights of caring for Tornado. Maybe splitting up the work between two people could help him.

 

Felipe shrugged his shoulders, suppressing a smile. 

 

“Hmm…” Diego smirked at his apprentice-of-sorts, and beckoned a confused Nina over.

 

“Y-yes, sir?” She asked nervously.

 

“What would you think about becoming Zorro’s apprentice?” Diego turned to her with a small nod of his head.

 

“That would be wonderful, but…” she trailed off, lost in thought. An exclamation point seemed to appear over her head as she studied the don’s face for a brief moment. “Señor, would you humor me for a moment?”

 

“Of course, Saturnina.”

 

“If I can ask, why do you and Zorro have the same mustache?”

 

Felipe snorted more loudly than he intended to.

 

“Perhaps Zorro and I are one in the same.” Diego said, suppressing his laughter pretty effectively.

 

“Oh!” The imaginary exclamation point over her head turned into a bright lightbulb. “Why didn’t I figure it out?” She lamented. Diego started to laugh. “I’m  _ glad  _ you didn’t, Saturnina!” 

 

Felipe draped an arm over her small shoulders. 

 

_ It’s okay.  _

 

She grinned at him. “Are  _ you _ Zorro’s apprentice?”

 

_ Yes.  _

 

He grinned back. 

 

“Come on, you two. We should be in the parlor before my father gets back inside from looking for you in the gardens.” Diego smiled, clapping a hand on their shoulders as a ‘let’s-leave-now’ gesture. Nina turned to Felipe, her grin becoming comically large.

 

“Race you!” She exclaimed as she ducked out of Felipe’s half-embrace and booked it towards the stairs. Felipe bolted after her, their echoing footsteps and Nina’s laughter causing Diego to call out,

 

“Don’t be so loud! My father may hear!”

 

He sighed, smiling at their shenanigans, and chased after them up the stairs.


End file.
